Quote:
Originally Posted by scrounge
there's not really a need for physics, newtonian or otherwise....the runner may have imparted a force perfectly parallel to the end line with the toss, but if his running imparted another force forward, the initial flight of the ball will, indeed, be forward per the definition. 
The ball was thrown at about the 35 yard line, it was caught at about the 27 yd line. Barring any post-toss forces like extreme and fortuitous wind, this was a forward pass. And completely understandable why it was missed - only replay could get this in all but the luckiest circumstances. |
You mean to say that there is no need for math in this case. What you used to describe your argument was also physics. Conceptual physics, perhaps. But it is absolutely Newtonian mechanics to say that the runner's forward motion prior to releasing a lateral pass results in motion that is still forward. You can use vectors to describe it, use trigonometry to calculate the components of the ball's motion, but in the end, you are right that we don't need to know exactly to what degree the ball moved forward. It is pretty obvious that it must have gone forward.
The thing is, we can't use the yard line where it was thrown and caught to explain. That isn't the NFHS Rule. The initial direction is the NFHS rule, and physics is pretty much the only tool we can use to explain why this is a foul at the high school level.
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